Covid news - live: Boris Johnson reveals end of lockdown roadmap as Whitty backs five-week gap between stages

Conservative former minister Mark Harper asked why restrictions are required after the most vulnerable groups have been vaccinated.

He said: “Could I just press (the Prime Minister) on the thoughts behind vaccinating groups one to nine, so that’s everyone over 50 and those 16 to 64 with a health condition that makes them vulnerable to Covid.

“Those groups account for 99 per cent of deaths and around 80 per cent of hospitalisations. So for what reason, once they’ve been vaccinated and protected from Covid by the end of April at the latest, is there any need for restrictions to continue?”

Boris Johnson responded: “(Mr Harper) makes an excellent point. The difficulty is that of course there will be at least a significant minority who either have not taken up the vaccine, in those vulnerable groups for the reasons that the House has been discussing, or who, having had the vaccine... not given sufficient protection.

“We believe that the protection is very substantial but there will be a large minority who will not have sufficient protection and the risk is that if you let the brakes off, then the disease could surge up in such a way as again to rip through those groups in a way that, alas, I don’t think anybody in this country would want to see.

“So I’m afraid it’s pure mathematics, there is still a substantial body of risk and we also need to wait and see exactly what the effects of the vaccine are. There are some promising data but I think what the country will want at this stage is caution and certainty and irreversibility and that is what we aim to provide.”

Children are being put under ‘huge” pressure by an ongoing narrative around education that emphasises the need to “catch up” on the learning lost during the pandemic, experts have warned.

It comes amid speculation the government is considering summer schools, extended school days or shorter summer holidays to help children make up for lost education due to school closures.

My colleague Zoe Tidman reports:

In the midst of everything, here are the latest death figures: The government said a further 178 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday, bringing the UK total to 120,757.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have been 140,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

The government also said that, as of 9am on Monday, there had been a further 10,641 lab-confirmed cases in the UK.

It brings the total to 4,126,150.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeatedly pushed back on questions around the government’s handling of coronavirus contracts.

Asked multiple times after announcing his plan to bring England out of its current coronavirus lockdown, Mr Johnson repeatedly said all the information on the government’s contracts were on record.

“[The] contracts are published in the normal way,” the prime minister said, noting that he had already been asked the question multiple times.

Earlier, he had said that “all of the details are on the record” about the government’s contracts.

Defending his government’s handling of deals, he said: “Of course it was right to work as fast as we could to get the PPE this country so desperately needed”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to welcome a suggestion to test pupils twice a week in schools to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

After announcing his plan to take England out of its coronavirus lockdown in the House of Commons on Monday, Mr Johnson was asked by Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin whether testing pupils twice a week in schools could “minimise the threat of another lockdown”.

“What will the Government be doing to minimise the threat of another lockdown, such as strengthening the track and trace and isolate operations - particularly at local level - providing Covid-safe spaces so it is easier for people to self-isolate who are infected and to deploy testing capacity more effectively such as, for example, testing school children twice a week in schools, as we are already going to be testing teachers?” Sir Bernard asked.

Mr Johnson replied: that Sir Bernard was “absolutely right in the ideas that he puts forward.”

“Test, track and trace has been improving the whole time over the period of the pandemic and he is right to draw attention to the potential of lateral flow testing - not just as in schools, where as he says, we’re going to be doing it twice a week for secondary school pupils after the first couple of weeks - but also, rolling it out for companies, for local areas, local communities to take it up as an additional support, an additional way of fighting the disease.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that while he welcomes new data showing coronavirus vaccines’ efficacy in bringing down hospitalisations and deaths, there is still a “substantial body of risk”.

Mr Johnson said the UK still needs to “wait and see exactly what the effects of the vaccine are,” despite “promising data”.

The PM said he believed the country wanted “caution and certainty” as the government pushes forward with plans to lift England out of its current coronavirus lockdown.

 The hospitality industry, including pubs and restaurants, is expected to reopen outdoors no earlier than 12 April, with the rule of six or new two-household rule in force, Boris Johnson has said.

Meanwhile, pubs and restaurants may reopen indoors, along with other venues, as early as 17 May.

Watch the prime minister’s comments on the reopening of the hospitality sector here:

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to rule out the possibility of having to enforce more restrictions in areas with new Covid variants.

The PM made the comments while addressing MPs in the House of Commons.

See what he had to say here:

Boris Johnson announced plans for hairdressers, gyms and other locations to reopen on 12 April if all goes according to plan in his roadmap easing coronavirus restrictions.

Watch the PM’s comments here:

The NHS is using lessons learned from the Manchester Arena bombing to provide mental health support for staff during the coronavirus pandemic.

As part of that effort, NHS England has said it will offer one-to-one expert help from qualified mental health clinicians, therapists, recovery workers and psychologists to workers.

Health Correspondent Shaun Lintern looks at how the experience supporting staff after the Manchester Arena bombing is informing the NHS’s efforts now: